This is my first ever post from a phone! A borrowed phone at that. I am unexpectedly incommunicado. I will be back early next week when we will discuss progress of the book. Which there is. Progress, I mean. Meanwhile, this post will keep the lights on.

adjective
1. not able, wanting, or allowed to communicate with other people.
“They were separated and detained incommunicado.”
synonyms: isolated, out of reach/touch, sequestered, unreachable, secluded
“He has been held incommunicado in a South Carolina navy brig.”

OK, Jimmy, care to explain why your are being held in a South Carolina navy brig? And since when does South Carolina have its own navy?

Ghost, maybe it’s a Cajun Navy brig. I had joked on the A&J fans facebook page that maybe Jimmy was running a rescue boat in Houston. Jimmy being the kind of guy he is, that may be nearer to truth than a joke?

Houston flooded and Katia, instead of going into Mexico, is moving to the east. Irma has 185 mph winds and is headed for south Florida with Hurricane Jose right behind it. People of south Florida assume the crash position and pucker up!

I’ve followed the forecast conditions and projected tracks of a lot of hurricanes in my time, but, as I remarked to Jackie earlier today, I don’t recall any with an outlook that so consistently became direr with each forecast update than that of Irma. Of course, whether or not it will live up to its ominous potential will be another story. I’m not an alarmist, but I fear it may.

The format had changed since Jackie worked it in 2015. Rather than checking in the rafters, we were set up inside the main gate checking in the other volunteers and dispatching them all over the river park to the various attractions and venues. Sort of like their “war room”, so it was not dull even though I didn’t get to see any damp and tipsy bikini babes landing their rafts.

Besides, most of the in-and-out foot traffic went right past our tent, and many of the young ladies who arrived were wearing cutoffs and tank tops. And a number of them didn’t bother to re-don them before leaving wearing just their bikinis. Also, there were more sundresses in evidence than I’ve seen since arriving in Oklahoma. It was a bit windy, and the stiff breeze caused some interesting ascents of several already high sundress hems. It was enough to make Ghost’s heart go pitty-pat. Plus I got one of the neat t-shirts issued to the volunteers.

The strangest part had to be seeing a guy with a dog that appeared to be an exact one-half scale model of Dickens. It was like seeing the canine version of Dr. Evil and Mini-Me.

For about 5 minutes I just watched a live cam from in front of Sloppy Joe’s in downtown Key West. I saw a total of 5 people, all on foot except for one scooter. It is calm and not raining, but most of the people seem to have used their heads for something other than a whiskey decanter and hit the road.

Not to make light, but I suppose if one does not like one or more of the forecast tracks of Irma, one may choose another one. (One of them goes just about over where all my stuff I didn’t bring to OK is.)

Both of those maps illustrates a point that I made about eclipses and weather forecasts: The movement of the sun, earth, and moon are well-known and predictable because we know enough about them to calculate their interactions for decades to come (even though the motion of 3 objects cannot be perfectly known). Weather forecasts require a higher level of understanding of many, many variables, most of which cannot be known and accounted for in time to make reasonably accurate projections.

The movement of a storm like Irma with a core the size of the Detroit Metropolitan area of hurricane-level winds about its eye is far more difficult to make for more than a day or two in advance. Remember, if the eye misses you by 50 miles or more, you’re only going to experience a really severe thunderstorm with ridiculous amounts of rain while it passes. The satellite images are deceiving in making hurricanes look far bigger than they are if you accept the official, technical definition of the thing: a tropical cyclone with winds of 74 miles (119 kilometers) per hour or greater that occurs especially in the western Atlantic, that is usually accompanied by rain, thunder, and lightning, and that sometimes moves into temperate latitudes (from Merriam-Webster)

So, why do reporters focus on the projections that are most likely to scare people into rash actions and to fear things they merely should respect and be aware of? Why do they fly off the handle every time a near-Earth object comes within a few million miles of the Earth?

Trapper Jean: Limbaugh never said that Irma was fake news. I heard the original broadcast. So, the fake news is that he said that Irma was fake news. IOW, the mainstream lied about what he actually said.

I don’t want to take away from all of the concern and prayers for those affected by Harvey, or threatened by Irma, but I’d like to ask all of you to spare a few good thoughts for the thousands of firefighters currently trying to contain the La Tuna Fire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Tuna_Fire) the biggest wildfire in Los Angeles history. It started on September 1, and by yesterday it was still only 80% contained.

I’ve no idea how many times I drove right through that stretch of I-210. Firefighters everywhere need all the prayers and support they can get. And I hope that no idiots are flying their drones around those fires, getting in the way of the air support!

Last night someone said that they were handing out self-filling sandbags. I sure would like to see one of those in operation. Dittohead did say that Michael J. Fox was pretending. I would like to have the opportunity to discuss that with him.

Hurricane-related behavior I just don’t understand:
• Buying bagged ice cubes when you can bag up the ones that come out of the icemaker in your frig (if you have one)
• Relying on ice cubes – they don’t last as long as blocks of ice, which you can make using tap water in storage containers, bottles, zip top bags, mixing bowls, whatever
• Thinking that everything in the freezer, or even the refrigerator, is ruined just because power goes out. (My cousin was without power for under 48 hours after H. Charley and threw out everything. Same storm, we had no power for a week, ate things as they thawed.)

The formerly dry person known as sandcastler on 07 Sep 2017 at 6:50 pm #

Rather Anne, I will ship you the contents of our refrigerator than has been underwater since August 27, just as soon as the authorities let us back in. Do you prefer air or ground shipment?

Poor Montana is burning down, along with Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Utah I believe. I have lost track.

Texas is still wet, soggy and shattered. Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina are all about to be smashed. I have friends in the Caribbean islands losing boats, homes, businesses and probably lives.

The web has brought us closer and allowed us to make friends who bring us closer to these tragedies because we do care. No one had better tell me God is punishing these cities, states, countries, people.

On a happier note Ghost and I met my pladtic surgeon who will help remove my left breast and reconstruct a replacement. And he will have to modify the right one to make it match the new faked one. He is amazing man wbo we both liked very much. He made me laugh.

In an ironic twist of fate, my 42DDD or 44DDD (and sometimes 44FFF if available rarely) will be scaled down to a single D because that is as big as they make ‘em legally.

It seems all those gigantic boobs sported by the oversized enhanced are European or Central American black market models!

Limbaugh’s comments are proof that you can say something that’s 100% factually correct and still be lied about endlessly by people who assign motives to you that aren’t true. He’s not telling people to stay home and doubt the hurricane trackers, but he is trying to quell the panic that has people fighting over bottled water when they could be filling up bottles at home.

I bet it happens because if there are jokes and plot lines about throwing money $$$$$$ endlessly into a hole in the water (boat) there are even MORE about throwing money $$$$$$ into a swamp building a house.

Debbe: Yes, we are planning to stay put. At last check, the projections were that what we’ll get will be about the same as Charley in 2004; that (along with Donna that we experienced as children) has become our standard of what we/our house can tolerate. Our neighborhood lost a lot of big trees back then (most would have been lost to old age soon after anyway) but the up side to that is that we don’t yet have a lot of big, old trees to worry about now. Besides, I think being on the road before and after a storm is likely more dangerous than sitting it out, at least, where we live – folks along the coast need to leave!

Ruth, watching that traffic crawl up north, inching along, my fear would be running out of gas, getting caught in the storm surge because of the slow traffic. But I heard they would be opening all six lanes after fuel trucks come in.

Right now it is possible that we will not even get any wind or rain or we could get a cat 5 right over us. The people on TWC have been saying for days that it is about to turn north and eventually it will. We just don’t know when. We have a generator if we lost power and we have plenty of food and water. We have 200 acres and a strong house in Alabama if we decide to leave. You don’t want to be on I-10 heading west right now. It’s a parking lot.

Hi everybody. This will probably my last post for a while. I’m going on vacation starting tomorrow morning and won’t be back till the 17th. Headed West, not East. Fortunate choice of directions made 2 months back. Take care and stay as safe as you can. I will be reading on a tablet, but don’t care to post from one unless I have to.

Well, now I’ve been to a rodeo, a tractor pull, and a string quartet chamber music recital. We saw The Calidore String Quartet in Tulsa tonight. It was held in a large room at Harwelden, the English Tudor mansion built on South Main Street in Tulsa by oilman Earl Palmer Harwell and his wife Mary in the mid-1920s. We were literally sitting close enough to the cellist to touch her, and the other three were not much further away. Jackie and I talked with them for a few minutes after the recital, telling them among other things how much being so close to the performers enhanced the performance. They said that worked the same way for them, and that they much prefer to be close to their audiences rather than being isolated up on a stage in front of the lights.

Unlike the other two events, no one at this one was wearing cowboy hats or ball caps. I found it interesting to attend a function with a bunch of guys that are probably known as Chip and Trey and Pinch, who could likely buy and sell me several times over…and yet I was still the best-looking guy there…except for some of the gay ones, of course.

Ghost & Jackie: Welcome to the fraternity. I’ve been in that enviable position sev. times, w/ various s. q’s. and other small ensembles, in recitals [some free], concerts, L.B. State Pk. lodge, and even the downtown offices of the F.N. Bank. Though a professional biologist, I often assert that the greatest invention of the 18th c. was the string quartet.

Went to the URL of the CSQ. Not sure they could yet ‘buy and sell [you] several times over.’ There are probably a dozen or more comparable young quartets making their way in the USA, all dazzlingly better than you or I could imagine being, and not really in the big bucks yet. Most of those I’ve seen in the above local sites have been such quartets. The only big time quartets Elaine and I have seen live [that come immediately to mind] were the Guarneri Q., in Mpls. and the Lindseys [sp.?] in Wigmore Hall in London.

I used the ‘surprise’ measures from the 3rd movement of the Beethoven s. q. op.18:5 as my intro ‘cart’ music for my Pro Musica program on BSU’s FM station for years. [Not the same as the movement in Haydn's 'Surprise' Symphony, but an equal waker-upper.]

Oops. Misread Ghost’s post. “attend a function w/ a bunch of guys …” was about rich guys in the audience. Oh, well. Much less likely that we/I were in the co. of plutocrats at the performances I was thinking of. Richest were probably a few MD’s, lawyers, and local bankers. The Guarneri and Lindsay concerts probably were attended by some members of “the quality.” Peace,

Tulsa still has a lot of old oil money around. It is often evident in that neighborhood. Tulsa is a microcosm of culture in Oklahoma, little ever trickled out to the country. Oklahoma City remained cattle and country.

Tulsa dates to the 1920s and oil exploration. A lot of relatively new money but they used it to build mansions, buy art, support the arts. No other area did. The city and its’ cultural groups are less than a hundred years old, yet many are celebrating 90 years of continuous performances.

I’ve heard a lot of the excuses people have used to validate their decision not to leave Key West ahead of Hurricane Irma despite all warnings…no car; no gas; no money for shelter (I understand the State of Florida supplied free shuttle buses to free shelters as long as it was safe to do so); it won’t really be that bad; I’ll be OK where I am; I don’t want to go/leave my stuff; and probably in the case of some of the burn-out cases living there, bless their hearts, “What storm?”…and I’ve yet to hear one that begins to justify a single human death. So for any police, fire/rescue and EMS folks who have elected to stay to provide emergency services as best they can, God bless you and good luck. For the others, vaya con Dios.

Since some of you don’t do Facebook I will tell you what one friend posted. He is EMS and was at the ambulance staging area and took photos. Hundreds of them lined up and ready to go into Irma as soon as it passes. They are from all over, not just Florida.

I have friends who are professional disaster rescue and they have been stationed already. This is what Ghost is upset about, risking police, fire, EMS, search and rescue personnel. I agree.
A close personal friend has stayed in Keys because “They wanted an adventure.” Hundreds have begged they leave to no avail.

I just am upset the Hemingway House refused to evacuate the cats. It costs $14 to see house. They have over 100,000 people visit each year which is $1.4 million in tickets plus all the weddings and event rentals which are huge.

Jackie…that too really upsets me about Hemmingways’ cats…no, it makes me downright mad. The zoo’s have concrete let us get out there and rescue the imbibed who decided they could ride it out Hell, I’m even smarter than that….sometimes….

I woke up and decided to check on the storm. The worse case for my area now is looking much more likely. It won’t do me any good to go to Alabama either. If I leave I probably won’t be able to get back, not to mention the problem of traffic and how do I go anyplace with four cats? They have changed the forecast so many times that it could wind up in Mexico. At the moment they show Jose making a big circle and coming back to where it is now. Sometime in the next 24 hours you will lose me when I lose power, but hopefully I will be back sometime. Hey, maybe the best thing would be to head east on I-10 and go south on 75. My son is in Orlando and says he will be fine. I survived Erin, Opal, Ivan and Dennis so here’s to Irma. (*)

Good morning Jerry…Sorry to read that you could be in the worst case scenario. When you had your house built (the one you’re living in now} did/were there building codes to install that your new house can/could withstand 200 winds?

There would be no way I could leave my fur babies behind. They would be going with me, all the time tolerating that incessant ‘meowing/cryin’

Right now the eye of Irma is over the Keys…..may the good Lord have mercy on all in Irma’s path, mercy on the firefighters, and the earthquake victims…….Amen

Debbe: Am sure they will be in the Joys and Concerns portion of the 1030 BUMC service. Phyllis Schafly, I believe, said ‘God does not hear the prayer of the Jew’ or words to that effect. Maybe it was what’s-her-name Bakker. Anyway, hope El hears the Irma prayer of a heterodox Methodist. Also, his prayer for his favorite Benedictine nun, who just celebrated her 60th jubilee, but also recently learned she has ALS. Have I already mentioned that? Peace,

I don’t know what the code requires, but our home, when built, came in second in the Parade of Homes. A lot of people preferred ours, but politics is always involved. As for 200 mph winds that’s like a tornado and only a poured cement house will withstand that. It’s sunny and mild, but getting a little windy. I’ve cleared the front and side porches but I’m leaving the back porch for now.

I own a set of beautiful near hurricane proof architectural drawings. In other words a custom designed plantation home designed site specific for a flood and hurricane area on sunken concrete pilings with engineering studies, steel frames, hurricane proof roof to 150 mph, raised off ground to clear floods, ground floor walls folded under first floor to let water go under house and debris wash under, true storm hurricane shutters and storm doors.

All based on core samplings of lot, known wind and water records of Galveston Bay storms, etc.
Materials were mainly like commercial builders use and meet in storm areas.

I could not find a builder who was interested because it took too long to build and higher skills then they had or hired.

Still have the plans. House is beautiful three story raised Mississippi plantation house. Could still be built today on coast. Southern Living would be happy to feature it should I win the lottery and build it.

I grew up in a poured cement house in Florida, Tampa to be exact. It was built just after WWII (the big one). Building materials and many other commodities were scarce. These were often called “Portland” houses as they were build with portland cement. Both the interior, the exterior walls and the flat roof were all solid concrete. Believe me, hanging a picture was quite an ordeal, requiring a drill with a masonry bit.

In the early 60′s, hurricane Donna blew through town. The house sustained zero damage. In the early 80′s my folks sold the house to a contractor who razed it to build two houses on the lot. A bulldozer took it down in just a few hours. I never thought it would be that easy.

As the eye of Irma approaches the Tampa Bay area, I find myself longing for that house.

We’ve had some squalls but not too bad so far. Bob just emptied 4 1/4 inches from the rain gauge. Backyard has some big puddles, as usual, but the drains next door (lowest point on the block) are working well.

1960, Hurricane Donna – We were watching Miss America Pageant when the power went off.
2004, Hurricane Charley – We were watching Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Athens when the power went off.
2017, Hurricane Irma – What’s on TV when the worst is supposed to arrive? Miss America Pageant!

I really wish that the Weather Channel would discontinue the Reporter out in the elements shot. That is why we have remote cameras. What happens when the reporter and/or cameraman get hit by flying debris and killed? For what? Ratings?

We watched briefly this morning, but watching the reporters getting blown every which way made me turn the channel. I am following it via the internet, praying for all of those who remain, especially the brave 1st responders. But they are in a safe place as the storm hits.

My wife’s friend in Jacksonville is in a shelter. Her husband lost his step-mother last night as she has been in hospice and they did not want to drive too far away.

Unless they’ve changed the rules, you can’t have live animals as part of your talent. Bob served as a judge for local pageants many years ago. (Long story that I’ll save for a time when I’m not thinking about battery conservation.)

Commenter on a local TV station FB page recommended checking there or local news websites for a more realistic sense of what’s going on. TWC and the network news do tend to focus on the horror stories.

I roomed with several “professional” beauty queens in college, was friends with others. It is a job and a talent just to be a competitor. Coaches, lessons, speech, beauty training in hair, makeup, dressing. At least it was before the dinosaurs were made extinct.

Miss America Pageant system was and may still be the largest provider of scholarships for women. While I haven’t always agreed with their image, I have no problem with anyone being rewarded for their talents and not everyone is or wants to be an athlete.

These women are not dumb. I have had two friends who were pro beauty contestants who were Miss Arkansas. It was ticket for both out of poverty and pulling a cotton sack picking cotton. That and sugar daddy sponsors, but the women paid high prices for those degrees.

One became a phD with a talk show, still stunningly beautiful.

A personal observation is it is hard work, lots of sacrifice and the glitz onstage is just that, glitz.

While I never competed, these were real friends who confided in me. I would never do it but that’ll more because I was too lazy to work that hard.

Here’s preparation post by another good friend in South Carolina, even funnier. I will point out that Izy, owner of buttons, speaks several languages and several university degrees, a primate scientist. These are not local yokels doing hurricane prep.

In light of all the hype about people panicking these were two of my favorite hurricane stories.

Got report out of Marathon, Fl in Keys. 50-60 people holed up in school, refuge of last resort. No food and everything in Marathon under water. Cops got to them and broke into cafeteria to obtain food. Sending rescue but told them they were going to be trapped several days.

Too much debris around Key West to send boats, several bridges on only high way in are under water or out.

Yes, Steve, TWC is the Benny Hill Show of cable “news-and-weather” providers. I’m been complaining for years about the inanity of having on-air “talent” stand out in the rain and wind to report that it is raining and windy.

My wife and I returned about half an hour ago from stargazing up at Payson Lakes campground (elevation 8,000 feet). It was the first time since a Scout camp in the mid-1960s that I had seen the Milky Way. While trying to look at Saturn I accidentally saw a satellite and managed to follow it for about 20 seconds. I’m so grateful to have a wife who shares this passion!

8 o’clock and all is … not bad, considering. Water in backyard is down to a puddle. Palm trees got a good cleaning. Tree branches down where Bob usually parks on the street. Big tree down at end of block. That’s what we can see from the front porch. Still having some strong winds, so we won’t be going out much farther.

Not a lot of signal on the wifi puck so I won’t be posting much. Need to save the battery until we have sun to charge our chargers.

Look up International Space Station and look for the area where you can register your zip code and E-mail address. They will then send you an E-mail when the Space Station will be visible from your zip with time, inclination and how long visible. Really neat to watch it go overhead.

newseum.org can get you to any of many different newspaper sites. It is good for seeing and reading the local latest about whatever, including Irma. Sometimes, a lack of a paper can mean something, too. At the moment, there is no entry for Melbourne FL or for St. Augustine FL.
I have been following Irma with it each day, not only for my FL contacts, but also for a friend on the coast of SC. Looks as though said friend may be out of power and may possibly have a little water. Fortunately, the living areas of the mansion are above the ground by about 6 or 8 feet.

Anyone else see the film clip on the webnet a day ago in which a football team, with a third-and-goal from about the 10, fumbled? Both teams scurried after the elusive ovoid, which kept squirting away. Finally, the offensive team recovered, back at their own 7. Thus, they faced a fourth-and-goal from 93 yards away!! Alternate description would be 4th and 93.

You might not be amazed how few playbooks have any good ideas for such a situation….

I got to see the Space Station twice in one night. The first time I was not sure but by the time that it had passed, I knew what to look for. We had an usually clear night and even with the light pollution, it was very visible.

One of my most unexpected viewing pleasures was when I went to my son’s running camp at Burt Lake in Northern Michigan. The night was SO clear that we literally could see the milky way. As I sat on the beach spellbound, I started seeing shooting stars and tracked a satellite.

CEP, I saw that play. The team was well behind Miss St. and was about to score to make the score more respectable. I really wanted to know what happened next. One of the wildest plays that I have ever seen that was not at the end of the game.

La Tech came back with a 21 yd run. Still had 76 yards to go! Mississippi State won.

1st and Goal at MSST 6
(15:00 – 4th) Boston Scott run for no gain to the MisSt 6
2nd and Goal at MSST 6
(15:00 – 4th) TEAM run for no gain to the LaTch 7 TEAM fumbled,
3rd and Goal at LT 7
(15:00 – 4th) Boston Scott run for 21 yds to the LaTch 28
4th and Goal at LT 28
(15:00 – 4th) Brady Farlow punt for 37 yds, downed at the MisSt 35

My brother, who is a Major in the Salvation Army, stationed in FL northeast of Tampa survived in good shape, and is trying to get his first response team together. When I heard about 3 hours ago it was still difficult to find open roads. Go youngster, go, praying for you and yours. (youngster for me is he is in early 50′s)

Sunday 3 Sept. there was an UMCOR* envelope for hurricane relief in our bulletins at BUMC. 100% of the money donated goes to whatever UMCOR project. Good reliable charity outlet, and BUMC has a year-end record for tax purposes. There will likely be info in the monthly newsletter for those not present that Sunday. *United Meth. Comm. on Relief.

Cassini will plunge into Saturn’s upper clouds Friday, a deliberate move to see that any microbes from here don’t contaminate any of Saturn’s moons that might have native life [notably Titan and Enceladus]. We’ve learned lots from Cassini. RIP.

My cousin got out of Marathon just ahead of the storm, ran out of gas on 75 and thinks his house is ok but won’t be able to go back for awhile. We had gusts of 35 mph, but very little rain. A 12 foot dead tree from the property next door fell over against a pine on my side of the property line. I picked it up and threw it back in the woods. The power never blinked which was a surprise. My generator won’t crank, but it will be ready for the next one. My son is fine in Orlando. My good luck continues with the sum total of damage being that the door blew off my mailbox during Ivan. I found it and put it back on. I’m not bragging. I know how lucky I’ve been.

My friend from coastal SC is safe and dry. Usually, she and husband go inland to, say, Athens or Augusta GA to flee storms, but in Irma’s case, that’d have placed them nearer the center. Indeed, they fled Irma all the way to St. Louis, where an offspring resides with family. I hear their island has no power, and residents will not be permitted back until there is power. No doubt, other conditions apply, too.
Good that Jerry did so well.

One of my Oklahoma friends and his church is helping gut homes in Cinco Ranch this week. He posted photos, referring to it as a gated community of large, upscale homes.

Of course, being from Houston I knew that but some may think the flooding affected poorer subdivisions that were not well built. The rains fell equally on upscale and downscale homes unfortunately, true equality.

Saw that “all” the Hemingway cats survived and that a caretaker stayed with them inside the house. Said that the cats all just came inside, that they seemed to know a storm was brewing and shelter was needed.

This might be one of the nicest times of the year. In a few weeks the leaves will turn, but it is in the mid-seventies, so you can still walk outside. As I leave my house at 7:00 AM it is dawn, which does get me a little depressed, but at least it is not dark the entire commute.

I agree with Arlo about letting Gene take care of him. I have noticed that both of my kids enjoy giving back to us and I like to let them.